Opinion: Can We Talk About Race?

Best of the Web Today columnist James Taranto on Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter’s reaction to a magazine piece entitled “Being White in Philly.” Photo: Getty Images

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

... back to Opinion Journal why Mary Kissel ... Philadelphia Mayor Michael nutter is up in arms about a recent magazine piece titled quote ... being white in Philly and quote ... here's an excerpt ... and I quote in EADS ... I've begun to think of that most white people stopped looking around ... and large segments of our city ... and our porous to most dangerous neighborhoods a long time ago ... one of the reasons plainly put is squeezing this over race ... many of those neighborhoods are predominately African American ... and if you're white ... you don't nearly avoid them ... you do your best to erase them from your thoughts ... best of the Web columnist James Taranto joins me now ... I James I was start with ... a big question ... and does the Constitution protects ... speech even speech about race ... yes nightmare an Otter has come out and pass the night the city's human rights Commission ... which has local bureaucracy to investigate whether ... I there's a way to punish Philadelphia magazine for publishing this of course there isn't this the years as human Relations Commission relies for a bigger partner ... on the mayor's actions here are cheap the demagoguery impotent in the Flemish ... art bought you one can understand the politics of it right because what has been uttered his season ERA was selected by RIN electorate that is in substantial part black ... eyed black people are afraid of racism ... I just is way people as the author I'd astutely notes are afraid of being accused of racism ... and another is simply playing these fears of his constituents inside it's it's shameful empowerment and I know I mean everybody yet to read this article it's up to let it build up the undying is often eye on because it says it isn't actually an inflammatory articles actually quite ... quite thoughtful ... um but James in Riyadh closer to the visceral initial exclusive look at it it is inflammatory because it's the awful it strikes a nerve and expression of that needs to be struck ... while that's distinctions if if the mayor comes out so strongly against ... an article like this ... aam who suffers ... is it the black Kenyan suffers if we don't talk about race awaits me every penny and so we need to talk about these issues well yes ... but when people like ... president Clinton years ago and Eric Holder a few years ago say we need to have a conversation about race people on the political multicultural or ... they don't mean let's have a conversation I mean let's have a lecture ... Web OS lecture you ... I'd you know white people are sufficiently liberal ... about what you need to stay ... and what we see in this photo the magazine article which is very thoughtful very sensitive ... very complicated it doesn't pay to simple picture of scornful of white racism to paint a picture of ... hot white people ... most of comune he doesn't really going to their political ideology that they live in a liberal city most of them are pretty liberal mind the author clearly is liberal minded ... but they're just terrified of the subject it's it's easier for them to avoid of course a lot of people avoided by just ... moving out of the city altogether and I'm going to the suburbs but if you're white you can opt out of this guy was a record of on the screen from the mayor to get that up ... now ... but because of the few Relations Commission should consider specifically whether Philadelphia magazine in The writer Bob Hoover ... are appropriate for rebuke by the commission in light of the potentially inflammatory effect in the reckless endangerment ... to Philadelphia's racial relations possibly caused ... by the essays unsubstantiated ... assertions change your response ... well ... I'd I'd love to get a rebuke from this guy managed with it would be a badge of honor ... as I say it's you know ... it's it's it that there's nothing they can do no there's nothing they should be able to do ... this is not can ago this is the United States of America we have free speech or if it were Canada they might be able to slap the magazine was in a speech for this but know it's it's ridiculous when is this guy to show you today free speech isn't something we should take for granted because of this button in case I might as well no it's not fret because ... it's so ridiculous it's not going right but but I think what the important thing here is why we shouldn't get caught up ... with the Mariners before that response ... the mayor's response points to the importance of this article so we shouldn't say oh you know the Philadelphia has a silly manner ... we should read this article and really think about it because it's a very important article and then there's the fact that it struck such a nerve in there ... in a way he's doing a public service by drawing attention to a new reading about it and pestilence yes ok great we can read festival of on line it WS J dot